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Edward England
Early Life Edward England was born in 1679 in York, England, to minor nobility. Northern England was a small Catholic holdfast against the Protestant majority in England. When he was eight, his father was preparing to send him to St Omer, intending for him to study under the Jesuits in France. However, global politics got in the way; that same year, William of Orange helped a cabal of English statesmen and generals in overthrowing the Catholic King James II and claimed the crown for himself. For the next six years, from 1689-1695, England's family moved from house to house, fleeing the hordes of Protestants who lynched every Catholic they could find. Eventually, the family settled in Berwick, under the protection of some local and sympathetic Anglicans. Edward now attempted to make a career for himself. Crossing the Tweed into Scotland, he traveled to Edinburgh, intent on joining the famous "Darien Expedition". Darien England entered Edinburgh Castle, where he wished to enlist. However, he was severely beaten by a Calvinist sergeant when it was discovered that he was Catholic. Saved from death by Henry Jennings, it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. The two teenagers sailed with the Scots to present-day Panama. It was there that Edward first demonstrated his knack for fast loading and marksmanship. During an ambush by Spanish troops outside Fort William, he got off four rounds in a minute, bringing down two Spaniards and seriously wounding another before their commander surrendered. Along with Jennings, he helped interrogate Edward Teach, the Irish Jacobite who'd been sent to steal sugar from both the Spanish and Dutch in the Caribbean on behalf of the aging Provençal corsair Francois Clermont. It wasn't long after this incident that the Darien expedition started to fall apart. With too many mouthes and not enough supplies, many colonists abandoned the protection of the fort and were killed by the Spanish and natives in the jungle. By early 1699, there was even an armed mutiny, and the colony's charter was revoked by King William. The men were ordered to return to Scotland. It was a nine week voyage home. England had no intention of returning to Scotland (or to the British Isles for that matter), so he accompanied Jennings and Teach on a mission of personal revenge. Marseilles The journey which England had joined would ultimately lead to his death. But it didn't seem that way in 1700. England accompanied Jennings and Teach to Gibraltar, a small fortress on the southern coast of Spain. They then sailed to Marseilles. There, Jennings and Teach murdered Francois Clermont, an aging corsair leader who'd wronged both of them in the past. During their escape from Clermont's manoir, England was shot in the foot. Refusing to have it amputated, he was left with a permanent limp. The Wars of Succession and Gold England fought alongside Jennings and Teach in a mercenary company during the War of Spanish Succession. Eventually throwing their lot in with the British, the trio came out of the war with generous bounties of £1,000 each. Jennings used his money to buy a manor in the hills north of Kingston. For his part, England spent his money far more cautiously.